Ben Stiller, Jake Johnson to Star in Pickleball Comedy ‘The Dink’

After their collaboration on Nutcrackers, Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films and Rivulet Films will re-team for the pickleball comedy The Dink.

Jake Johnson has nabbed the leading role as he plays a washed-up tennis pro who, to save a club in crisis and win his father’s respect, does the one thing he swore he’d never do: play pickleball.  The cast includes Mary Steenburgen and Ed Harris, while Stiller and former tennis champion Andy Roddick will have key supporting roles.

Johnson is coming off Self Reliance, his feature length directorial debut that he also wrote and stars in. Josh Greenbaum will direct The Dink from an original screenplay from Sean Clements, with production to start in Los Angeles in November.

John Lesher and Stiller are producing through their Red Hour Films banner, alongside Rivulet’s Rob Paris and Mike Witherill. Johnson will also produce. Stiller and Rivulet Films most recently worked together on David Gordon Green’s Nutcrackers, which opened the Toronto Film Festival and was picked up by Hulu.

Nutcrackers marked Stiller’s first starring role in a movie since Mike White’s Brad’s Status and Noah Baumbach’s Netflix family drama The Meyerowitz Stories in 2017, as the Hollywood veteran has focused on directing and producing in recent years.

Rivulet is financing The Dink, with Rick Steele, Clements and Greenbaum executive producing.

Johnson is repped by UTA, while Stiller by repped by WME. Steenburgen by repped by UTA and Entertainment 360, and Harris is repped by CAA, and Greenbaum is repped by UTA and Entertainment 360. Clements is repped by by UTA.